Arpious of the Planes

"Jörmungandr," I hear a low female voice from behind me say.

Suddenly my vision went dark, but it's not like I died. Instead, it felt as if something wrapped around my neck, so I began to claw at it with my fingers after dropping my sword.

"GET OFF! GET OFF!" I shouted, but it instead came out as muffled screams.

Crack

But as soon as I felt the thing wrapping around my head loosen, my vision turned sideways, and a searing pain enveloped my neck.

"Good boy. Very good boy," I hear the same low female voice say from before as my life slips out of my grasp.

…

(Third Commander POV)

"Huh? Dan? What happened? Why aren't you getting up? Dan? Hey… TALK TO ME! TALK-TO-ME! PLEASE!" I cry out after seeing a spear penetrate my right-hand man's stomach, causing him to fall to his knees.

When I hopped off my horse to check on him, I noticed his eyes were wide open, and his muscles were still tense from the impact… Signaling his death.

Even when a minute passed, he still didn't wake up. It felt like I just saw my family die before my eyes, throwing me into a fit of rage.

"ARGHHHH!" I scream from the pits of my diaphragm, slightly frightening the monsters who began to overwhelm my army.

SHING SHING SHING

Each time I swung my halberd, I ripped through dozens of monsters, but I wasn't even thinking. Each move was made purely by instinct and muscle memory… Which honestly made me much more potent.

I had no hesitation within my swings, causing me to even rip through some of my soldiers, but that didn't matter.

My rage was unstoppable…

My soldiers who saw me ram through waves and waves of monsters smiled in excitement as I led the frontlines into battle.

Though it wasn't intentional, I began to lead the other armies who had lost their commanders.

This continued on, and soon I snapped back to reality, only to notice that I was leading an army of 15000… But strangely… I wasn't panicking… I wasn't scared… I wasn't disgusted or nervous… Instead, I felt proud from the depths of my soul.

"ARGHHHHH!" I cried out once more, but this time it came from the bottom of my heart as I charged forward.

Clop Clop Clop Clop

And just as I pointed my halberd towards the army of monsters we were slowly cornering, I could hear the galloping of a Mud Unicorn from behind me.

"Grazer," I mutter, my eyes gleaming in joy as I still had somebody left.

My only family… Grazer, my Mud Unicorn.

A smile quickly crept onto my face as I leaped towards it and grabbed its reins, hopping onto its back and pulling the reins once again.

NEIGHHHH

"SOLDIERS! CHARGEEE-"

SHING

Huh? Wait… This is my blood… M-my blood! When did blood get on my armor?

"ARGHHHH!" I shouted as I had been stabbed in the back by a long metal sword that pierced not only my chest but also Grazer's head.

All the soldiers who were filled to the brim with morale and adrenaline snapped their heads towards me.

Their giant toothy smiles melted into horrified expressions.

Huh? When did the world turn upside down?

…

(Hades POV)

How annoying… Auntie is going to be mad at me for taking so long to summon the undead.

"But I wanted to watch more," I complained before hopping off the observing platform on the very top of the watchtower.

The black ground which confused the humans in the beginning now began to summon thousands upon thousands of undead monsters of all sizes, races, and power.

Some of the monsters in our kingdom that I killed in the colosseum began to grab weapons from the dead bodies before charging right at the humans.

And only in less than a minute… I had wiped out the entire human army, leaving nobody alive.

"Age," I mutter.

The black mist suddenly swirled around the battlefield and lifted each corpse from the ground before stripping them of their intestines, muscles, and organs… leaving them with only their bones and heavy armor.

"My army has doubled," I mutter after glancing at my army of undead.

25000… 30000… Very nice. I'm even beginning to catch up with Mother's army of 50000.

"HADES! COME HERE RIGHT NOW!" I hear a booming and angered voice come from above me.

Looking up and behind, I noticed that it came from the watchtower, and the only person I knew who was in there… was Auntie and Yin, but of course, it wasn't the ladder as Auntie was currently abusing her.

"Y-yes," I responded before climbing up the ladder as fast as I could and entering the reinforced wooden room.

But just as I glanced into the room, I turned away, embarrassed by the sight of what Yin was currently doing to Auntie.

It wasn't like they were having sex, but it was pretty strange… Yin was kissing Aunties' white sneakers that matched perfectly with her white and pink robes.

You could call her clothes angelic, but her expression right now was the very opposite of that.

"WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING?!" Auntie shouts before kicking Yin's face, sending her tumbling into the floor and sliding right next to me.

I didn't dare to look away from Auntie, though, because if I did… I would die. My senses and every ounce of my judgment screamed that only death awaited me, so I, of course, listened to them.

"What's wrong?" I responded despite me having a gist of the situation.

Auntie was about to yell at me again but knew that wouldn't change anything, so she calmed down and let out a deep breath.

"Tch… Think about it. What have you done?" Auntie asks while narrowing her eyes menacingly.

"I took too long to summon my undead,"

"Yep! Then why didn't you follow my plan? Did you want to play around and have some entertainment!?"

I froze up cause she got it spot on.

Instead of answering verbally, I just nodded my head before bracing myself for Auntie to have an outburst.

"FUCK! THIS ISN'T A GAME, DUMBASS! THIS IS WAR! PUT YOURSELF IN THE SHOES OF THE SOLDIERS! WHAT WOULD THE DEAD THINK IF THEY KNEW THEIR DEATHS COULD'VE BEEN PREVENTED!" Auntie asks, losing her cool once again.

"S-sorry,"

"Don't apologize to me! Apologize to the dead!"

"B-but doesn't Mom play around when we're at war?" I respond, trying to at least hold on to some of my pride.

"You are different from Arpious. Arpious knows when she can play around even though she sometimes slips up… But when she does slip up, she can fix her mistakes because of how strong she is.

You might be her child, but that doesn't mean you are a replica of Arpious! Okay?! Did you listen?! Now go out there and apologize to the army! I bet that'll humble your sorry excuse for a king ass," Auntie shouts before slumping down into her chair.

Her scowl didn't have any signs of going away anytime soon, so I followed her orders and turned around.

Everybody was already looking towards the watchtower due to Aunties screaming, so I didn't even need to call out to everybody for them to turn towards me.

"I-I'M VERY SORRY!" I shout.

"Bow," Auntie orders from behind me.

I bowed instantly while squeezing my eyes shut, expecting an outburst by the soldiers… But instead, the sound of clapping could be heard.

The clapping got louder and louder, so I raised my head, unable to contain my curiosity.

"A-are you all clapping for me?" I ask, but it was drowned out by the claps which resonated with each other.

"ALL HAIL THE FUTURE KING!" Everybody shouts.

Some even had tears running down their faces, contrasting with their giant smiles that conveyed respect and loyalty towards me.

"Hmph, you got lucky," Auntie blurts out.

"*sigh*... So this is what it's like to be a ruler," I mutter with a broad smile appearing on my face.

…

(Unknown POV)

"T-the retaliation army was wiped out," A small attendant draped in a golden gown stutters before lowering his head apologetically.

"*sigh*... SHIT! How did we lose!" A man dressed in thin chainmail armor shouts before slamming his fist onto the large stone table.

The table was surrounded by multiple other leaders whose faces had darkened as if they had just seen an omen of their death.

The room was silent for a couple of minutes as each present leader brainstormed.

"Why the hell did we choose the Kingdom of Fire anyway?" The same leader dressed in chainmail armor asked.

His golden greatsword shone brightly in the light of the large diamond chandelier above the table.

"Cause it's the closest place to the [Mountain of Twilight] after the… what's it called… I don't know—that shitty kingdom which was destroyed," A woman in gleaming silver armor answers.

"Well, should we just do a full on attack?"

"Yeah, that seems like the only way. We have the numbers,"

"Wait!" A man sitting at the table with a massive katana stretched across his back shouts.

Everybody turns their heads towards him.